


one-hundred and sixteen seconds

by starlightkun



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Snapshots, its rlly cute ok, one of my fave short oneshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26907472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun
Summary: in which it only takes one-hundred and sixteen seconds for you to fall in love with your friend (three times)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Reader
Kudos: 28





	one-hundred and sixteen seconds

Falling in love with someone can take a while, months, years, _decades_ even.

But it could also be quick, just a few moments.

_It took you one hundred and sixteen seconds to fall in love with Huang Renjun the first time._

He had just transferred to your school from China, your teacher explained as she stood at the front of the classroom with the meek and embarrassed boy. The rushed and awkward introduction took _eleven seconds_.

There were several other seats in the classroom, but Mrs. Han only took _two seconds_ to determine that he should sit in the empty one beside you. You thought nothing of it.

She had been discussing the lesson for another _fifty-two seconds_ when you finally zoned out, eyes focusing and unfocusing on the words on the board. Maybe you shouldn’t have stayed up until nearly three in the morning binging your newest TV show obsession.

The girl in front of you turned around _ten seconds_ later, handing you the worksheet Mrs. Han apparently wanted you to complete for the day. But why did you have two copies?

It took you a whole _three seconds_ to realize that it was because you now had a desk buddy. Without even glancing at Renjun, you passed the paper to him.

You figured that he didn’t know much Korean, mainly since your teacher had said he just moved here from China two days ago, and also because it took yet another _twenty-eight seconds_ for him to stammer out a request for help in reading the instructions.

Skimming over the paper for _six seconds_ , you still had yet to look again at the boy beside you. His hands were in your peripheral vision, fingers drumming the desk anxiously.

“Okay, so Renjun,” You spoke as clearly as you could, taking _three seconds_ to flip open your pencil case and retrieve a fresh pen from its depths.

“Yes?” He replied earnestly, finally making your eyes flit over to him.

And they got stuck on his. An earthen brown; curious, deep, and unblinking as he looked right back at you. You knew that you were staring for way too long and desperately tried to blurt out some kind of excuse as you finally ripped your eyes away from his to look at the paper again.

Of course, you didn’t know what it was, and your oblivious self didn’t realize it until years later. You had been absolutely fucked since that day. Why? Because Huang Renjun became your best friend, and then an idol. Debuting at the ripe old age of fifteen wasn’t all that bad, except for the phone calls at all hours of the night because he was having a stress-fit and needed someone to vent to as he bawled his eyes out, and the fact that you rarely saw him in person anymore. Despite that, both of you would firmly answer that the other was your best friend if asked. It didn’t matter that you hadn’t seen him face-to-face in over two months, and that distance unfortunately did only make your heart grow fonder. He was still your best friend. Nothing more. What a cliché you are.

* * *

“Y/N.”

You ignored your friend’s pleads of your name, still intensely focused on your laptop screen.

“Y/N.”

“Renjun.” You mimicked him absentmindedly, writing down a few more numbers on your paper as you worked your way through your math homework.

“Y/N, come on!” He whined from where he was perched beside you, face mere centimeters away from yours.

“I need to finish my homework before we go out, Ren. It’s not my fault that you decided to show up twenty minutes early.”

“I know you said five, but the only way I could get a ride here was because your house was on the way to an NCT 127 interview, I couldn’t exactly ask to leave twenty minutes later.”

You shook your head at your friend, continuing on with your derivative problem, “I have two more, and then we can go, okay?”

“Fine,” Renjun huffed, sitting back away from your face again, arms crossed over his chest. You were sure that if you looked over at his face, he’d be pouting.

Not even a moment later, you felt the couch cushion beside you move before Renjun wormed his head underneath your arm to rest on your leg, looking up at you endearingly. Giving him a frank and unamused look, you readjusted a little bit to this new position, moving your hands to your laptop keyboard to check your answer. You were right. Nice.

The next one was a lot trickier than that one. Letting out a small screech for a moment, you then refocused on the problem, fervently scratching your pencil against the paper.

“From here it looks like you have a double chin.”

“Renjun I’m going to punch you in the nose if you don’t shut up.”

He shifted onto his side, forehead resting against your hip as he went to grab your hand that wasn’t holding your pencil. Your friend loosely linked your fingers together, gently shaking your joined hands as he mumbled softly, “I just missed you, Y/N.”

You sighed, looking down at the boy with a bittersweet affection, giving his hand a small squeeze, “I missed you too, Ren. But if I don’t finish my homework _before_ we go out my mom’s going to ground me and we won’t get to see each other for another two months, okay?”

“Okay.” Renjun relented, letting go of your hand and sitting up straight again, retreating into the corner of your couch in defeat.

Not quite feeling like a winner, you returned yet again to your math homework. Eventually, you gave up and wrote down some bullshit answer. You’d have to ask your teacher to review it tomorrow anyway, there was no point in agonizing over it for any longer at this point. Shutting your laptop and setting your notebook and pencil on your table, you looked to him expectantly, “Ready, bub?”

Renjun’s face lit up as he leapt to his feet, eagerly dragging you along with him to the front door. You laughed, tugging back on his hand, “Hold on, I need my keys and my coat. You start layering up, okay?”

You darted to your bedroom, grabbing a sweater, boots, beanie, gloves, and a heavy overcoat. A cold snap had just happened as well as several inches of snow, which meant that the Winter festival you were going to was going to be _extra_ cold. Back by your front door, Renjun was all bundled up, a sight that made you giggle as you put on your own overcoat and grabbed your keys from the small table beside the door.

“Ready?” He asked, hand on the door handle as you fidgeted with the hood of your coat.

“Yep.”

The first step outside was brutal, a gust of wind immediately hitting your face, nipping and stinging at any piece of exposed skin. Quickly, you closed your door and locked it, desperate to get the metal key out of your hand. Making sure it was locked, you then turned to Renjun, who was already offering his arm out to you. You accepted it, awkwardly linking your own thickly coated arm with his to start the trek down the sidewalks. The wind wasn’t constant at least, only a gust here or there, making the walk bearable as you would occasionally bump into another person, the sidewalks seeming even more crowded since everyone had on so many extra layers.

When you reached the park where the festival was being held, you sighed in admiration at the wonderful lights they had put up all over the trees, benches, and most everything they could. It looked like a true winter wonderland as they glistened against the fresh snow.

_It took you one-hundred and sixteen seconds to fall in love with Huang Renjun all over again._

After _five seconds_ of looking around in wonder, you glanced back to your friend and realized that he had only been looking at you in amazement that whole time.

It took him _two seconds_ to point out and suggest to you the hot chocolate stand on the other side of the park.

The two of you reached it in _twenty seconds_ , ending up at the back of the fairly short line.

Standing still, you could feel the cold start setting in and earning a tighter grip around you. _Seventeen seconds_ later, Renjun seemed to have noticed you shivering, “A little chilly out here, huh?”

You glared at him, “You’re shivering too, Ren.”

He huffed, pretending to be mad at you for a total of _two seconds_ before taking his hands out of his pockets and holding his arms open for you.

You knew you shouldn’t, that it would only hurt your heart even more, but so far you had been doing good. You could handle this, right? Your internal debate lasted a very awkward _three seconds_ before you gave in, reciprocating his tight hug.

The line slowly moved, the two of you shuffling up in that same position, _thirty-two seconds_ passing before you were at the front and Renjun let go of you to face the vendor.

The exchange of money for your drinks took just over _eleven seconds_ , and you questioned why it had taken so long before when there were only two people ahead of you.

Accepting the hot chocolate, you walked with Renjun away from the stand for about _six seconds_ before you found a reasonable place to stop underneath one of the barren trees that had been given a new life with delicate lights.

You and Renjun were silent as you blew on your hot chocolate for _seven seconds_ in an attempt to cool it down, the steam as thick as smog in the cool air.

Finally, you decided to brave taking a small sip, one that lasted only _a second_.

Deciding that it wasn’t too hot, you took another sip, this one much longer, _four seconds_.

Your friend seemed to be holding back his laughter for _three seconds_ , and you knitted your eyebrows, “What, Ren?”

“You’ve got—” he chuckled for _two seconds_ before continuing on, “You— I’ll get it.”

It took you a whole _five seconds_ to realize that he was kissing you. Renjun was kissing you, his lips were pressed against yours, something that barely registered in your head over the blood roaring in your ears and the freefall your heart was in right now.

It crash-landed _three seconds_ later when he pulled back and commented, “Sweet.”

Your eyes were wide, you were suddenly very warm, and yet stood frozen in front of him. Renjun still seemed amused, a small giggle coming from his mouth as he said, “Too forward for a first date?”

“For a _what?_ ” You didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but you practically spat it back out to him.

Watching the grin fall from his face would’ve hurt if your brain, your heart, and your central nervous system weren’t already running on overdrive at a million miles an hour. You were still sputtering on sounds that weren’t meant to make coherent thoughts or sentences as he took several physical steps back from you, backtracking immediately.

“I’m—I’m sorry. Was it not—? Oh my God it wasn’t. It wasn’t a… I shouldn’t have listened to Donghyuck! I should’ve clarified what you meant when you asked me to—oh I just fucked it all. Y/N, I’m so sorry, we can just forget about… _that_ for forever, okay?”

There were several more uncomfortable moments of silence between you before your brain finally slowed down enough for your tongue to catch up, “Ren.”

“Yes?”

“I couldn’t feel it.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t feel the kiss. My lips are so numb from the cold right now that I couldn’t feel—”

And finally, the two of you just broke down laughing. You laughed until your sides hurt, until you were clinging onto each other for support, until you were laughing so hard that no sound was coming from you and your eyes and cheeks were coated in tears that froze as soon as they came out.

As you sobered up from your cackling fit, Renjun readdressed the situation, “So this wasn’t meant to be…”

“No, it wasn’t.” You admitted but reached your hand out for his. “But I wouldn’t mind it turning into one.”

When his bright smile returned, and his hand grabbed yours, you could feel your heart skip back up into your chest.

* * *

_It took you one-hundred and sixteen seconds to fall in love with Huang Renjun thrice._

It wasn’t after anything special, no grand romantic gesture from him, a completely mundane moment that somehow felt spectacular.

Only _three seconds_ after you had arrived at the dorm, your boyfriend had already sat you down on the couch and asked you to wait there.

Waiting patiently for the next _seventy-three seconds_ , you looked around. You’d visited the dorms on occasion, but it was dangerous and the two of you were constantly being watched or interrupted by another member. You would be watching a movie in his bed and Chenle would see it and start screaming that you two were doing something else, causing every other inhabitant of the dorm to come running in.

But now the dorms seemed to be almost completely empty, if anybody else was here, they were keeping quiet in their room.

“Okay, so you know how we’re going to the beach next weekend with your family?” He yelled out from down the hall, his voice sounding as if he were coming closer to you.

“Uh, yeah?” You replied, still confused as to the ‘urgent matter’ he had that required you to come to the dorm immediately.

It took you a full _thirteen seconds_ to take in the outfit he had come back wearing.

White button up shirt with a rubber ducky print on it, baby blue shorts with white pinstripes, mirrored blue sunglasses, yellow bucket hat, and bright pink crocs.

You immediately burst out laughing, taking _sixteen seconds_ before you could even be steady on your feet to approach your boyfriend.

It took you _four seconds_ to fumble the sunglasses off to be able to see his face, his own eyes creasing as he giggled a little bit too.

Taking either side of his face in your hands, you kissed him for _two seconds_ , unable to contain your laughter anymore.

“Don’t like it?” He asked, that _one second_ spent intertwining your fingers on both hands.

“No, no,” you admitted, chuckles dying down enough for you to genuinely look into his eyes for _three seconds_ , “I love it. I love you.”

Renjun wasted no time in repeating it back to you, “I love you.”

That _last second_ was when you knew, you truly knew, that you were in love with Huang Renjun. Even if took _348 seconds_ to realize it. Or six years, depending on how you measure it.


End file.
